Union Officials Elect for Hypocrisy

Given this level of public and media support for elections, some may be surprised by union officials’ campaign to take away secret ballots from working Americans. They may be more surprised to find that union officials seem to prefer elections when it comes to their own staff deciding whether to join a union.

An analysis by the Center for Union Facts found more than three dozen cases of NLRB petitions filed by one union seeking to represent the staff of another. That means an employer—the union—chose not to accept cards as a sign of their staff employees’ intent (and, as noted below, the affirmative rejection of card check is a reasonable conclusion). Such a position is, at best, hypocritical. Leaders of the UFCW seemed particularly fond of requiring elections for union staff who sought representation, followed closely by SEIU and Teamsters leaders. It is notable that these are among the most vocal unions to support ending secret ballots for working Americans.